Wolfpack digs too deep a hole vs. Duke

By Conor O'Neill / Times-News

Published: Friday, February 8, 2013 at 12:41 AM.

DURHAM — Whether Duke’s hot shooting or North Carolina State’s suspect defense was to blame, the end result of Thursday night’s game was that the Wolfpack couldn’t match the Blue Devils’ energy, according to Scott Wood.

“I think they just came out and played with a lot more intensity than we did,” the Wolfpack guard said. “They played extremely hard and we just couldn’t match that intensity.”

N.C. State fell behind early and had its rally cut short during Thursday night’s game, ending up on the wrong end of a 98-85 decision at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

It’s third straight defeat and fifth loss in the last seven games for N.C. State (16-7 overall, 5-5 Atlantic Coast Conference).

“From my perspective it just kind of looked like Duke was just able to do whatever they wanted to do,” N.C. State’s Richard Howell said. “They had their way the whole first half.”

By the time N.C. State had recovered from Duke’s opening haymakers, the Wolfpack trailed 25-6 at the 12:14 mark.

N.C. State woke up to score 13 points in about the next three minutes. The problem was, the Wolfpack gave up 10 points in that stretch and never seemed to be able to stymie a relentless Blue Devils attack.

DURHAM — Whether Duke’s hot shooting or North Carolina State’s suspect defense was to blame, the end result of Thursday night’s game was that the Wolfpack couldn’t match the Blue Devils’ energy, according to Scott Wood.

“I think they just came out and played with a lot more intensity than we did,” the Wolfpack guard said. “They played extremely hard and we just couldn’t match that intensity.”

N.C. State fell behind early and had its rally cut short during Thursday night’s game, ending up on the wrong end of a 98-85 decision at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

It’s third straight defeat and fifth loss in the last seven games for N.C. State (16-7 overall, 5-5 Atlantic Coast Conference).

“From my perspective it just kind of looked like Duke was just able to do whatever they wanted to do,” N.C. State’s Richard Howell said. “They had their way the whole first half.”

By the time N.C. State had recovered from Duke’s opening haymakers, the Wolfpack trailed 25-6 at the 12:14 mark.

N.C. State woke up to score 13 points in about the next three minutes. The problem was, the Wolfpack gave up 10 points in that stretch and never seemed to be able to stymie a relentless Blue Devils attack.

“You never know (if a team is going to cool down), but that’s tough when a team comes out and shoots like that,” said Wolfpack forward C.J. Leslie. “I don’t care what team it is, that’s tough for any team to deal with.”

Duke heated up again in the last two minutes – rather, Seth Curry caught fire. The senior guard nailed a pair of 3s, added another two free throws and a jumper for 10 points in the last 2:06 of the first half.

“You’ve got to give them a lot of credit, they knocked down a lot of shots (Thursday) night,” Wood said. “Some were tough, some we just let them have easy ones.”

N.C. State rallied in the second half, cutting Duke’s lead to nine on three occasions and to eight (93-85) with 1:07 left. Those moments came in the last five minutes, largely because Duke answered N.C. State baskets with at least two points 11 times in the first 15 minutes of the second half.

So N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried was left to praise only part of Thursday night’s game.

“We could almost get it under 10 and get it right in there, and then they did a nice job of pushing it back out,” Gottfried said. “Disappointed but proud of our effort there, the way we played about the last 30 minutes.”

Some possible late-game heroics were canceled with 3:41 left in what was then an 11-point game, when Howell swung the ball and his elbow through and caught Mason Plumlee’s nose.

Despite what was a late whistle – which came simultaneously with Howell’s jumper swishing through the net – the senior forward was called for his fifth foul. He had scored 15 points in the second half, finishing with 23 for the game.

“I saw the ball through the net after they called that foul. In my opinion I didn’t think it was a foul,” Howell said of the play. “I felt me nick his nose, but he definitely had some acting going back.”